Inserting Links Banner

   Hyperlinks, or links, are what distinguishes Web pages on the Internet from the static pages of a book. As discussed earlier, links are merely specially formatted text elements or graphic files that can be clicked to jump to another file or location on the Internet, play a sound or video clip, download files to your computer, and more. Links are usually colored and underlined text, but can be other objects like images. If you place the cursor over the link, the corresponding address for the link usually appears at Status Bar located at the bottom of the browser window. When you hold your mouse over a link without clicking, you'll see that the cursor (Cursor) will turn into a hand with a pointed finger (Pointed Finger).

   Generally, a link has three parts: a destination, a label, and a target. The destination is probably the most important part. It is used to specify what will happen when a visitor clicks the link. The label is the part the visitor sees and clicks on to reach the destination. As suggested earlier, it can be text, an image, or both! The target determines where the destination will be displayed. This part is often ignored by the Web designer and left up to the Web browser.

Creating Text Links

1. To create a link in your Web page, first highlight the word or words (label) you want to form your link, then click the Insert Link button Link Button on the Composer toolbar. This will open a Link dialog box as seen below.
 
Link Dialog Box<--Link Dialog Box
 
2. Type in the URL, or Uniform Resource Locator (destination), a fancy name for Website address or Page Location, in the URL field (For example: images.html). If your link is to a page on the Web, and it isn't in the same directory that you're uploading (publishing) your Web page to, you need to type in the full URL (i.e. http://www.yahoo.com/). Click OK when you are done.  Your linked text should appear in a different color (usually blue or purple) and be underlined.  

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Creating Image Links

Images can also be links. The navigational buttons that you've been clicking on the bottom of every page to get to this point of the tutorial have all been image links! After you've inserted an image, click once on the image to highlight it. Next, click the Insert Link button Link Button on the Composer toolbar. When the Link dialog box appears, type in the URL that you would like to link to in the URL field. Click OK when you are done.  Now when you view your Web page on a browser, the cursor will become a hand with a pointed finger when you drag it across your linked image. See the example below.
 
Honda

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Creating Links to E-mail Addresses

In addition to links to other Web pages, you can make links to e-mail addresses, called MAILTO: links. When visitors click on your MAILTO: link, their computers automatically launch an e-mail client, such as Netscape Messenger, and a Message Composition window will appear, thus allowing the visitors to send you e-mails. To create a link to your e-mail address (or other e-mail addresses), first type your e-mail address and highlight it in the Composer window. Next, click the Insert Link button Link Button on the Composer toolbar as you would for inserting any link. When the Link dialog box appears, rather than typing in a site address in the URL field, type mailto:name@site.com, where name@site.com is the e-mail address. For example, mailto:weblearner@weblearner.freeservers.com. Click OK when you are done. While browsing your page on a browser, clicking on your MAILTO: link will open a new Message Composition window.

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